Can anyone help with suggestions on what I can do if the seller refuses to move forward after receiving the approval letter from the lender?
I have been working on this file for over 1 year now. We finally received the written approval letter from the lender, we have been in the process of closing. Disclosures have been signed, appraisal been ordered. I even had to negotiate with a collector to reduce a debt that was attached to the property.
We are suppose to close by December 15th. After all this, the seller has been ignoring all my calls and emails recently. Today I received an email from her stating that she has been speaking to someone and that a short sale is not in her best interest right now and that she will have to get back to me later.
What????? I am so frustrated. Has anyone had this problem and what did you do about it?
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Yeah a lot of the BK lawyers will kink your deal at the last minute, i just had one days from closing ,and he talk them into filing BK ,but the buyers are going to wait until the Discharge to close ,and the lender is as well. I don't lose the deal just have to wait 3 months more to close it.
Yes, I had this recently happen to me. The seller would not sign final papers needed to get final approval and informed me that friends told them to talk to their lawyer and the lawyer told them to do bankruptcy. They were approved for HAFA and tried to explain to them and this lawyer but they refused to return my calls. I later found out that this lawyer is buying up short sales and selling or renting. I am watching the property very closely to see if his name ends up on title. You cannot give legal advise and I advised my client to speak to another lawyer but they told me they got the same answer. These lawyers charge an upfront fee and 3 told them that the banks would go after them for a deficiency I cannot believe that the seller chose to do bankruptcy and I quote the seller "we don't care about anyone else we don't want to do a short sale" I am sorry but what comes around goes around. You just have to walk away. Once I walked away I have to admit I was relieved to be away from the drama of this particular deal. I explain all options upfront before taking a listing but in the end the seller still has the right to walk. It would be nice if the bankruptcy judge was privy to the knowledge of the seller choosing to walk but I know that they will not disclose this information. Sad. Move on and learn from every deal.
Hi Lisa,
You raised an interesting point.
"It would be nice if the bankruptcy judge was privy to the knowledge of the seller choosing to walk but I know that they will not disclose this information."
I too think this would be very interesting if, the judge knew the seller opted out of a program that could have saved some creditors costs. I wonder if there is a way to submit a copy of your contract and lender's approval for the record.
I told the bank what the client did in hopes they would allow the deal to close once the BK was final and also the buyer wanted to wait the BK out. Bank of America never responded they just pulled the short sale approval as they had an acceptance and close deadline. I explained to the seller that the buyer had a right to sue but their lawyer, slime ball that he is, listed the agents and the buyer as creditors so no one can sue. Could not believe this. And not even sure he can do that. I did not hire a lawyer myself to seek legal advise or confront my sellers on this. As I stated earlier. What comes around goes around. I would love to find out who the judge is and present this information and would think the lawyer by withholding this information should be held accountable but that is common sense and not how it works. If I find the lawyer's name on title I will turn him into the bar. Sad to find out that you thought you were helping someone just to learn they are playing the system.
Unfortunately, I have just had this happen. The seller got the name of the president of the bank before we ever listed the home and so it was being handled as a high priority by the top loss mitigation specialist from the bank from day one. We got an approval within a little over a month. The buyer did not like the condition of a promissory note and did not like having to close within 30 days. He requested an extension of the time for short sale approval and requested that the promissory note be waived. The bank agreed to both, but would not agree to a second postponement of the foreclosure sale (now set for Dec 21). The seller decided he was better off not accepting the short sale from the lender and will either declare bankruptcy or will let it go to default. Unfortunately, the attorney spoke to him and I spoke to him and he just does not want to move out of his. So I believe he will declare bankruptcy or let it go to default and will allow the bank to evict him! As upsetting as this was, the buyers walked and I had to just move on. Sometimes, there really is nothing you can do and at the end of the day, no matter how stupid I think the seller's decision is, it is up to them at the end of the day! Good luck!
Cindie,
I had a similar situation this year with a short sale listing. My sellers had not been contacted by a BK attorney, but a scam artist/"investor" who said they would pay them money directly if they cancelled our current contract and allowed them to purchase the property.
We only figured out this situation when the out of state sellers refused to go to the title company to sign the closing documents. As the listing agent, I did have a current listing agreement and a signed MARS disclosure that stated I could go after them for the commission since we had a fully approved short sale that they had signed and agreed to with Chase. I notified the sellers of the consequences they faced from Chase, the buyers, buyer's agent and myself if they defaulted on the contract. I also had the Chase negotiator get involved and contact the sellers directly instead of being the middle man. (Chase told the seller that if they did not close this transaction they would not agree to any other short sale with them and they would foreclose in the upcoming auction.)
None of these things seemed to phase the sellers and I was advised by my attorney to walk away from the transaction. Personally I wasn't going to waste my time going after the commission--not worth the time, money or stress.
However, the buyer wasn't willing to walk away and they hired an attorney who sent multiple letters letting the seller know that they would be pursuing all of their options if the buyer defaulted on the contract. After a month, this seemed to do the trick and the sellers signed an extension to the contract, Chase extended our short sale approval letter, and we closed on the property.
Best of luck on your transaction!
I've been doing short sales for over 4 years now and have had this happen a couple of times...not fun. If I'm not mistaken, with a real estate contract, you can sue the seller to perform...they must sell. When you go into contract on something that is considered a one of a kind (i forgot the legal term) the seller must sell. They can't just say they changed their mind since the buyer can not go out and buy the exact same item (a house in this case) somewhere else.
You are right. But the seller did and it seems there is nothing I can do now. :-(
It's been difficult because she won't return my phone calls. I only received one email and she said she wasn't ready to move right now. The buyer's are willing to accept an extension but the seller won't even communicate with me now.
Thanks,
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